Slave To Rome
by Sapphire Smoke
Summary: •Alternate Universe• Livia raids Varia’s tribes for slaves, and ends up selling them all but Varia, whom she decides to keep for herself. •Livia/Varia•
1. The Traders

**Summery:** Livia raids Varia's tribes for slaves, and ends up selling them all but Varia, whom she decides to keep for herself.**  
Time line:** AU : After Livia raids Varia's tribe for slaves, she does not kill her sister Tura nor does Varia escape.**  
Rating:** Mature / 18+**  
Pairing:** Livia/Varia**  
Disclaimer:** I do not own Xena, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from writing this story**  
Feedback:** Give it to me, baby ;)

**CHAPTER ONE - THE TRADERS**

My hand wrapped around the dagger, my palms sweating with fear and anticipation. She was there, not more than a few paces in front of me. I dared not to breathe, I was afraid she would hear and that would be the end of me. I took another step, raising the dagger slowly upwards towards the monster Livia. If I could do this, then my sisters would be saved.

My heart was beating so heavy in my chest I was afraid it might burst. I was terrified, I'm not going to lie about that. This was the first battle I had ever been in, and I had never killed before. Another step, and the hand that was holding the dagger was shaking so hard it was difficult to keep it steady. I could see my younger sister Tura in the guarded line of my sisters and I heard Livia say, "Watch the faces, we need to get the money back at auction."

I was almost there now, and I raised the dagger even higher, ready to strike. But then I paused, could I really take a life? I knew I should, that it was what could save us all, but I was scared of her blood staining my hands for the rest of my life.

It was the small pause that cost me my opportunity. Livia turned, her eyes widening at the sight of me, and mine at being caught. My heart leapt into my throat, and I froze. A growl fell from Livia's lips and she screamed as she took a hold of my shoulders, and flipped me square over to land on my back. I coughed as the landing took the breath out of me, and then looked up to see Livia draw her sword and advance on me.

I scrambled backwards, fear over taking what should have been my bravery as an Amazon. I was going to die, here, in the middle of my destroyed village, a mere sixteen winters old. Then I saw out of the corner of my eye, Tura running out of the line to save me.

"No, Tura!" I yelled, more fear even gripping at my chest at the sacrifice my baby sister was about to make for me.

Tura threw herself over me, protecting my body with her own, and I wrapped my arms around her as I stared up at the face of my soon to be murderer.

Livia shook her head, and raised her sword, preparing to decapitate Tura right there on top of me. I closed my eyes, and prayed to Artemis that someone would stop her, though I knew the chances was slim to none.

Then a miracle happened when she spoke.

"No," she said, and I opened my eyes to see what was her change of heart. "No, two less Amazons is two less bags of gold that I'm going to need to prepare to march on Greece."

She sheathed her sword, and then kicked Tura in the face, knocking her clean out. I made a grab for her, but Livia took me by the hair. I tried to struggle against her grasp, but she just smiled at my vain attempts. "You got lucky this time, Amazon. I doubt you will be so much when the slave traders have you, however. I hear they beat their slave girls in a matter of weeks."

She let go of my hair, throwing me onto the dirt. "Chain them," she commanded one of her soldiers, and I was grabbed from behind before I could even make any attempt to run.

****

We were on a ship, heading towards the shores of North Africa, where the biggest slave market was. We were chained together in the base of the ship, stored where the cargo was held. There was a solemn air in the cabin, and no one was speaking. Most of us just could not believe that this had happened. We were the fierce Amazons, how were we defeated so easily?

"Varia?"

I turned to look at my sister in question, and Tura, looking so frail and frightened asked, "What do you think is going to happen to us?"

My heart wrenched in my chest, and I touched her face in a comforting gesture. Our mother was killed during a previous battle, and I was the only one left to look after her. I couldn't help but feel like I failed.

"I don't know," I answered, honestly. "She plans to sell us as slaves, that's all I know."

"Are we going to die?" She asked me, and all of her childhood innocence shone through in that one question.

I refused to let her give up hope. "No," I answered with determination. "We're strong, Tura. Whatever situation we get into, we will get out of it."

"Do you promise?"

I looked at her, and tried my best not to cry. "I promise," I answered, as my voice cracked a little.

"Don't lie to her like that, Varia."

I turned my head to look at Shalaya, and my face was etched with anger. "I'm not lying. We will get out of this."

"Don't kid yourself, we're done for. We are no longer Amazons, we no longer have a tribe. We are slaves now."

"If that's the way you think, then you are a slave!" I yelled.

"Varia's right," Genia answered from across the way. "We're still Amazons. No one can take that away from us. Are we just going to give up?"

"We'll all be killed if we raise a hand against Livia and her army!" Shalaya exclaimed forcefully.

"We'll be killed anyway if we don't!" Genia answered back with just as equal fierceness in her voice.

"No," I said, and everyone turned to look at me. "No, we do not go up against Livia and her army. That would be foolish."

Genia looked like she was about to retort, but I continued, "We let her sell us. Getting away from the slave trader's will be much easier work then getting away from her, especially on a ship filled with her soldiers and no where to run. When we regroup and build our tribe strong once again, we will come after her."

There was a silence that filled the air and I waited for someone to say something. "Alright," said Genia. Everyone else nodded, except for Shalaya.

I looked at her expectantly, "If you choose to die a slave, Shalaya, that is your business, but you have the plan if you ever decide to become an Amazon once again."

****

We were all chained in a line at the African market, as Livia tried to negotiate with the slave trader. We all listened intensely, trying to find out what our fate would soon be.

"There's a slim market for Amazons, they tend to be a little too.... feisty."

Livia slammed her hand on the table, making the burly man jump a little. "I did not come all this way to hear your excuses, Torias. You WILL find a buyer!"

"I... well, that is..." he struggled as he looked through his paperwork. "We might be able to make a deal with the Borgus the Brutal. He seems to like beating his girls to death, I heard he goes through at least one a day. He might like them spicy, I can contact him and see if he is willing."

Livia's eyes narrowed, "You do that, and be sure to make it quick! I don't have all day."

He nodded, and Livia turned and swept towards her men that were guarding us. "If we can't find a buyer," she said to one of the men. "Then we sail back to Rome, and dump them overboard. We can find a way to make the gold some other way."

Fear gripped my chest, and for the first time in my life, I prayed to become a slave.

****

"Borgus will take them," Torias told Livia a couple hours later. "He said he would find great sport in breaking an Amazon tribe."

Livia's lips curled into a smile and she replied, "Good. You just spared your life."

"But there's something else," he said. Livia's eyes narrowed, and he continued, "Gurkhan expressed an interest in two of them."

"Gurkhan? He's the one that takes slaves as wives, does he not?" Torias nodded and Livia asked, "Which two?"

Torias pointed his finger at me, and my eyes widened, "That one."

Livia looked at me, and her face showed anger. Torias pointed then pointed at Tura and said, "And that one."

Livia looked at me, and then at Tura before turning back to Torias. "Tell Gurkhan he can have the child. The other one, is not for sale."

"What?" I said, before being backhanded in the mouth by a soldier for speaking.

"Quiet!" He barked at me.

Torias nodded and said, "I will relay your message, though I'm sure he will not be pleased with only getting half of what he asked for."

"Gurkhan will deal with it, this conversation is over. Take all the slaves you need to trade, I'll be leaving right away."

Torias handed her the gold she was promised by each trader, and replied, "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Of course," Livia said dismissively, and then turned to address her guards. "Leave the others in his possession. Take her," she pointed to me, "With us."

"No!" I screamed, as I was unchained from the line and then grabbed by two guards. "Tura!" I screamed, as we were both taken in opposite directions.

**TBC....**


	2. Defiance

**CHAPTER TWO - DEFIANCE**

"What do you want us to do with her, Livia?" One of her men asked that held me. I had stopped struggling long before now, the fight being taken out of me. I was going to die, I knew it. There was no way I could ever keep my promise to Tura now.

Livia looked me over and replied, "Chain her in my cabin, I will deal with her in a minute."

"No!" I yelled again, though I knew it was pointless. I was dragged across the deck by the two men, and pushed into Livia's personal cabin. The two men chained my hands and feet, and I was thrown onto the floor before they closed and locked the door behind me.

I wasn't sure of what was going on. Surely, if she didn't sell me as a slave, she was going to kill me. But yet being thrown into her cabin and not over the edge of the ship made me wonder what was really going on. I hoisted myself to a sitting position, and leaned up against the wall. Looking around, I saw a table in the center of the room, with a large map spread across it. To the left there was another door, and I figured that must be her sleeping quarters.

The door opened and Livia walked into the room, and looked at me on the floor. Smirking as she closed the door, she addressed me, "What is your name?"

I didn't answer her, just glared at her. She narrowed her eyes and strode over to me to slap me hard across the face. I spit blood onto the floor and looked up at her with fury in my eyes. "You will answer me when I address you. Your name, Amazon!"

"Varia," I growled before putting my tongue to my cheek where my tooth had cut it.

Livia rose to full height and said, "Gurkhan, the man who wanted you, takes slave girls as his wives. They live in this beautiful palace, will all the luxuries in the world."

I just stared at her, wondering what her point was.

"You tried to kill me. Failing as you obviously did, I still cannot allow that to be your fate."

"Then kill me and get it over with!" I screamed at her.

She glared at me before kicking me in the stomach, and I doubled over and gasped in pain. "You will speak when spoken to, girl."

I stayed silent as I lay on the floor, willing the pain to leave me. Livia continued to speak, "I have been meaning to get a slave girl of my own for some time now, and I believe you will do just fine."

"I will die before serving you!" I coughed out, before receiving another kick to the stomach for speaking out of turn.

"That may be, but we will see, won't we?" She replied with a evil smile etched on what would be a beautiful face if not for the monster it contained. "I'll take such pleasure in breaking you, Amazon."

Livia turned and left the room, and I just lay on the floor, staring at the legs of a chair, as tears began to fall from my eyes.

****

"Livia, what is that?" Ares, the God of War asked her, pointing at me in the corner of the room.

"My new slave girl," she answered him.

"I heard Gurkhan was willing to pay for her, is that true?"

"Yes," she replied, as she looked away from him and down at the map spread in front of her. "We should invade Greece from the East, do you agree?"

Ares slammed his hand down on the map in front of Livia, making her look up at him in annoyed question. "You can't invade Greece until you get more money! You were a fool not to sell her to him, he pays three times for one girl what others do, with that money you could've afforded to invade Greece AND Britannia!"

Livia looked at him challengingly, "We have enough money to start the invasion, Ares. When we take the first province, we will be able to get more supplies and money and be able to finance the rest of our invasion."

"But what was the gain in keeping her?" He bellowed.

"She tried to murder me, I was not about to let her live a life of luxury."

"You're a fool," He said to her, "Don't let your petty vendetta against this child ruin your good sense."

"I have made my decision, Ares! Besides, we are almost to Rome, turning back would waste more time and money."

There was silence between them for a minute, and I watched from my corner of the room.

"Fine," Ares relented. "Keep the silly Amazon child. But when you end up beating her to death in a day, when you could have made a small fortune off of selling her, don't tell me you regret your decision."

He was gone in a flash of blue light, and I was left alone with her. There was silence for a long time while she studied the map in front of her, no doubt going over battle plans in her head. Then, after what seemed like forever, she looked at me and said, "Come here, girl."

I stayed where I was, and she laughed a little at my small gesture of defiance. "Do you want Ares to be right? Would you like to be beaten to death in a matter of a day?"

I narrowed my eyes, but rose to my feet, and carried myself over to her. I did not want to serve her, it was the last thing I ever wanted to do. But I made a promise to Tura, and it was no good if I was dead.

Livia looked me over, then spoke. "First, we need to get rid of these awful clothes. You look like a savage."

She touched my shirt, and I flinched from the feel of her skin against mine. She smiled at me in a twisted way, and then gave me my first order. "Strip."

I just stared at her. Surely she did not want me to undress in front of her? I guess I hesitated for far too long, because I was hit across the face once more. "I said strip!" She commanded.

I stood myself up right again, and my shaking hands rose to start to undo the laces the bound my top together. She looked at me curiously, as if trying to take in my nervousness. As the last lace was undone, my top fell to the ground, leaving me half naked in front of her.

"Now the rest," she said.

I looked away from her and kicked off my boots. Then my trembling hands came up to undo my belt, and I pushed my skirt down around my ankles before stepping out of it. The only thing that was left on me was the necklace I had since I was born, the necklace from my tribe. I was afraid she would ask me to take that off too, but she didn't.

"Stand at full height," she said to me, and I rose up to look at her in the eyes.

But her eyes weren't on my face, they were roaming my naked form, and I flushed in embarrassment under her gaze. She touched my stomach, and my whole body shook.

"You're strong," she observed as her fingertips lightly grazed the muscles on my stomach. Her hand traced down my stomach to my right above my hairline, and my breath caught in my throat in fear that she was going to defile me as her first act of punishment against her. I looked at her, begging her with my eyes not to do it, but the look on her face made my features form into confusement.

But then her hand was gone, and the fierceness was back in her eyes. I let my breath out. She grabbed some clothes from behind her, and threw them at me, "Put these on."

I hurriedly dressed myself in the garments she threw me, which turned out to be a dress that looked slightly like it was from Arabia. I didn't understand, only the finest slaves were given these kinds of clothing. But she was the champion of Rome, so I supposed that her slave must reflect her status. I slipped on the sandles, and stood in front of her, silently.

"Go make up my bed chamber, and lay out my sleeping clothes," Livia ordered, and unlocked my chains. "And don't try to run now that your free. Remember, we are still on a ship, there is no where to go."

I took a step back, and thought of telling her where she can go shove her sleeping clothes, but I kept my mouth shut. The only way I could ever get out of this and back to Tura was to do as she says until she begins to trust that she broke me. Then, and only then, will I be able to escape.

**TBC.....**


	3. Secrets of the Palace Slaves

**CHAPTER THREE - SECRETS OF THE PALACE SLAVES**

We arrived at the Roman Palace not more than a day later. Livia needed to spend a couple days there to go over her battle plans, and have her men buy supplies for the planned invasion. As Livia rode into the gates of Rome, me a on foot a few paces behind her with her army behind me, they were welcomed back with cheers from the Roman public.

The Roman Emperor, Augustus Caeaer, greeted Livia warmly when we got into the palace, welcoming her back and congratulating her on her capture of the Amazons... my tribe. He looked at me, standing a few paces behind her, and asked, "Who is the girl?"

"My new personal slave," Livia answered, and grabbed my hand to pull me forward to no doubt grovel at the Emperor.

I bowed my head and tried to hold back my sarcasm as I said, "My Lord."

He looked me over and gave a slight nod of his approval before turning back to Livia, "Do you plan to keep her in the palace, or have her travel with you?"

Livia looked at me and gave me a little smirk, "Oh no," she said as she turned back to him. "She will spend every waking moment serving only me."

My eyes flashed in fury but I stayed silent.

Livia snapped her fingers to another slave of the palace and when she dutifully rushed over, Livia said, "Bring my new slave to my bed chamber, and have her draw me a bath."

The girl nodded and said, "Yes, my Lady"

I flashed my eyes at Livia again before turning away from her and following the other girl down the hallway.

We reached a bed chamber that was behind large mahogany double doors, carved with Roman crests. The girl opened it, and inside was the largest room I had ever seen in my life. The ceilings were four times my height, and white stone pillars lined the walls. A large bed was in the center of the room against the back wall, covered in all kinds of different animal skins, with no doubt silk sheets beneath them.

When the girl closed the door behind me, she turned and asked, "What's your name?"

"Varia," I answered.

"Gina," the girl replied. "How long have you been a servant?"

"Two days," I answered, and a look crossed my face that was clear that I was unhappy with the situation.

"It's been years for me. Lady Livia picked me up in a village she conquered long ago, decided to let me live and serve the palace."

"Oh yes, she's very giving," I said in dry sarcasm.

"She's not all that bad, you know,"Gina said as she motioned to me to follow her to Livia's private bath.

"She enslaved my entire tribe and sold them to get money for her invasion of Greece!" I said, shocked that she would even defend this monster.

"You were an Amazon?" She asked, with awe in her voice as she turned to look at me.

"I AM an Amazon," I corrected.

"Whatever you were, you best forget it. You belong to Rome now."

"I don't understand why you defend her," I said, changing the subject. "You said she conquered your village?"

"She killed my entire family," Gina answered casually, and my eyes went wide.

Gina started to run the bath water, and for a minute I forgot what she mentioned about her family. I had never seen a bath be drawn this way before, I had always had to heat the water and pour it into the tub. I guess this is what an Emperor's fortune would buy.

Remembering what she I said, "Again I ask, why do you defend her?"

"I don't defend her, I just said she's not all that bad. The thing about Lady Livia is that she's so set on being strong and warrior like in front of everyone important. When she's just around us, slaves that are less than dirt to her, she starts to show who she really is," Lydia replied as she poured in some scented oil into the bath.

"I doubt she will do the same around me," I replied.

"You'd be surprised. You don't understand what an honor it is to be her personal slave, do you?" She asked me with a hint of amusement in my voice that I didn't know anything about the slave world.

"Some honor," I replied, dryly.

"You don't know how many slaves she has taken back to work at the palace, out of the many, through the years, she had never once chosen a girl to be her own."

"And I'm supposed to feel special, then?"

"Yes," she replied simply. "If I may ask, what happened to the rest of your tribe?"

"They were sold to Borgus the Brutal," I answered, as I watched Gina light some candles around the bath.

"And why weren't you?"

"Gurkhan wanted me, and she said that she wasn't about to let me have that fate because I tried to kill her when she raided my tribe."

"So she kept you?" She asked.

"Obviously."

"Don't you think,"Gina started, "That if she wanted you to have the worst possible fate, that she would have given you to Borgus? I've heard the stories, I know what he does to his girls. You aren't the first and you aren't the last to try to kill her, but yet do you see any other personal slaves of hers around?"

I didn't say anything, I really didn't know what to make of it or what exactly her point was.

"She likes you," Gina continued. "Something about you stuck with her, which is why she's keeping you around."

"Bull," I replied. "I don't even think that woman is capable of liking anyone in the world, all she cares about is power."

"Ha, see that's what she wants you to think. But you'll learn. All new girls do eventually."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, confused.

Gina didn't answer for a minute as she laid out the sea sponge, so I prodded on, "If I need to be prepared for something, I would appreciate a heads up."

Gina sat on the edge of the tub and looked at me, "Being an Amazon, I doubt you would have any problem of this concept, but..."

"But?"

"Livia has this _thing_... for women. No one besides the slaves she has ordered to lay with her know this, and it is forbidden to speak of it."

I looked at Gina, completely dumbfounded. The concept of two women together didn't surprise me, I had seen it many times within my tribe. Though the fact that Livia liked that did, however, shock me.

"So you think she's going to want to lay with me?"

"You're her personal slave, what do you think?" She answered, and looked at me pointedly.

Just then the door opened, and Livia strode into the room and looked at Gina. "Leave us," she ordered.

Gina nodded and hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind her. I looked at Livia and waited for what I was supposed to do.

"Disrobe me," she said to me, and my heart leapt in my throat. Was this going to be it, was this going to be what Gina had spoken of? All I could do was pray to Artemis that this monster woman was not going to be the one who would take my chastity from me, and hope that all Livia wanted was a bath.

**TBC....**


	4. Truth

**CHAPTER FOUR - TRUTH**

My feet carried me slowly over to Livia, and my hands shook a little as I undid her breast plate, and laid it on the table beside her. I took off the rest of her outer armor, and laid it on the same table. Next I unlaced her under leathers and peeled them off of her, freeing the top half of her body. I tried my best not to look at her when I removed her belt and her skirt, revealing her lower half. Then I went to my knees to remove her boots, and put them off to the side.

It killed me to do this, to undress her like this like she wasn't capable of doing it herself. I really had no idea how long I was going to last until I snapped, but I tried. I tried so hard because of Tura, and my promise to keep her safe.

I stood to full height, averting my eyes to her naked form. Livia stepped into the warm bath, and submerged herself in the water. She looked up at me and said, "You hate me, don't you?"

I didn't know what the appropriate answer to that question was, whether she wanted me to tell the truth or lie, so I stayed silent.

"Answer me," she said, in a softer voice than I've ever heard her use. "Truthfully."

"Yes," I answered, looking at her. "I hate you."

"You will for the rest of your life," she said, as she rubbed the water over her arms.

I stayed silent. I didn't understand what was going on. She said it in such a tiered voice, like it was something inevitable that had come time and time again, and that she was sick of.

"Sit," she said, and motioned to the side of the tub next to her.

I sat down in the place she chose for me, and she said, "What do you think of me?" She looked up and repeated her request from last time. "Again, I want the truth. Whenever I ask you a question, Amazon, I always want the truth."

I took a breath, this was the weirdest conversation I think I had ever had in my entire life. "I think you're the type that feels so lost and helpless that you conquer others and spill blood to make you feel powerful," I said, honestly. Surmising from just her change in attitude here in the bath chamber to how she acted around anyone powerful in the vicinity, it seemed like a valid deduction on her character. Then again, how would I really know?

Livia smiled, a genuine one, not ones filled with hated and blood lust like I had seen previously from her. "Your wiser than I thought, Amazon. I'm impressed. I'm glad I chose to keep you."

"Wash me," she said, pointing to the sea sponge. I took it in my hand and submerged it under water, before running it along her back.

Livia leaned forward to give me more room and then said, "You were truthful with me, I appreciate that."

"You told me to be," I answered.

Livia gave a small laugh, "You would be surprised how many slaves still give me the answers they think I want, just to get on my good side. It's pathetic, I think if someone asks you a question and you have an answer they might not approve of, you should speak it anyway."

"I was taught to be strong willed and to voice my opinions," I replied.

"That's why I like Amazons, they give the shit that you throw right back at you." She looked at me and added, "But you may only do that in privacy with me. In public, you WILL get beaten for it."

"I've noticed," I said dryly, and Livia laughed.

"But that, there, is why I chose you. I'm so sick of these pathetic girls that grovel at my feet here. I needed someone in my life to tell me the truth."

I didn't answer, but started to wash under her arms.

"Get in here with me," Livia said, and my hand stopped moving. Livia laughed at my frozen stature and said, "I'm not going to kill you, Amazon, I have uses for you still. It's easier for you to wash me from in here."

I didn't really see her logic in that, so I said, "I can still reach everything I need to wash from out here."

Livia smiled, and I guess it was because I voiced my opinion on the matter. "No, not everything," she replied with a smirk. My eyebrows raised, did she expect me to wash her... private areas?

"Still," she went on, "I'd like some company. Join me."

I rose and started to disrobe. She might be acting differently towards me in here, but I was sure that if I disobeyed a direct order I would get beat. I was still a slave, after all.

Livia watched me carefully as I took off my clothes, and her eyes roamed my naked form. I wish Gina never told me what Livia liked, because now I knew what that look in her eyes was, and it made me slightly uncomfortable.

I stepped into the tub, and submerged myself in the hot water. "See, that wasn't so horrible, was it?" Livia asked, with a smirk.

"Not yet," I answered, and Livia laughed again.

She took my hand that held the sea sponge, and rubbed it over her chest, as she helped me wash her front. She moved the sponge lower, over her breasts, and I really couldn't help myself but stare. She was a beautiful woman, I couldn't deny that. But it just felt so wrong to just stare at her like that, but yet the way she was holding my hand and moving the sponge over herself, entranced me.

She caught me staring and asked, "Do you like that?"

"Do I like what?" I asked, not understanding what exactly she was referring to.

"The way I look naked," she clarified.

I stayed silent for a minute and she raised an eyebrow, expecting an answer out of me. "Yes," I said truthfully, though I almost choked on the answer because I didn't want to admit it out loud.

"But...?" she asked, knowing there was more that I didn't say.

"But I hate myself for liking it," I said.

"Because you hate me?"

"Yes."

Livia nodded and moved my hand and the sponge lower, submerging it under the water as she ran it over her flat stomach.

"Tell me, Amazon, have you ever been with a man?"

"No," I answered, and my breathing picked up because I was sure of where this was leading. I started fingering at my necklace nervously as I tried to steady my intake of breath.

Livia moved the sponge lower, over her thighs and continued, "A woman?"

"No," I answered again.

"What would you say if I told you to touch me?" She asked, and I flushed red.

"I..." I started, trying to ignore where the sponge was probably about to go. "I would ask if it was an order or a request."

"Would it matter?" She asked me.

"Yes," I said, "It would."

"Because you would not do it if it was a request."

"No, I wouldn't." She stopped the sponge almost at the center of her legs, and I breathed a little better.

"Because you hate me," she stated.

"Yes," I replied, wondering why she kept going back to me hating her. It was weird.

"What if I promised not to spoil your own chastity?" She asked.

I looked at her, confused. "Why would my chastity matter to you?"

"It matters to you, obviously," she replied.

I didn't say anything, and she said, "I want you to touch me, and it's funny, really."

I knitted my eyebrows together and asked, "Why is it funny?"

"Because," Livia said, "I want you to want to touch me."

"I don't think that will ever happen," I replied.

"No, neither do I," she said, then added as if self analyzing, "I think that's why I want it so badly."

"It's natural to want what you can't have," I said.

"I've never experienced that," she replied, honestly.

"You've lain with women often, I would assume," I said, trying to not let on that Gina told me about her private fantasies.

"Yes," she said, and looked me in the eyes, "All my slaves, all who would do it just because they want to please me. You, however, have no desire to please me."

"No, I do not."

Livia looked at me curiously, and then finally moved the sponge that was close to the center of her legs away, and let go of my hand. "This is an odd feeling," she stated.

"What is?" I asked.

"Wanting someone I can't have," she answered.

"Since when have you not taken anything you have ever wanted?" I asked, genuinely curious as to why she just doesn't have me, not that I wanted it.

"I always have," she said in sort of an airy voice as she laid her head back on the edge of the tub.

"Then I'm confused."

"So am I, Amazon," she answered, which didn't really answer me at all.

Livia brought her head back off the tub to look at my confused face and she said, "You do not understand why I want you so badly."

"Because you can't have me willingly," I said.

"No..." she said, "Yes, that's what drives it more now. But no."

"Then why?" I asked her.

"I don't know," she said casually. Then she shook her head, apparently done with that conversation. "I want you to stay the night with me here, and not in the slave quarters."

"For what purpose?" I asked, wondering if she was going to try to lay with me regardless.

"To sleep," she answered simply.

I looked at her, and I didn't know what to make of her. For the last couple days she was a savage monster, horrible and cruel to all around her. And now, alone with her in this tub, she was strangely quiet and sort of disconnected, saying everything with such a casual air about her, like nothing mattered, she just needed to speak.

I nodded, and said, "If that's what you want."

"Oh yes," she said in a slight monotone, "I want that very much."

**TBC....**


	5. Over The Years

**CHAPTER FIVE - OVER THE YEARS**

Almost two years had past since that conversation in the bathtub with Livia. By now, I had accepted my fate as a slave. It wasn't like I just laid down and took it willingly, but Livia had me heavily guarded at all hours of the day, and there was never a chance for me to try and escape. Tura probably thought me dead anyway, and at least she was in a beautiful palace, much like I was, but dressed in the finest garments and given every advantage.

It was the day after that conversation that Livia hired guards to watch that I didn't escape, and to also protect me. I remember being in her bedroom, making it up with Gina, when she told me how extremely rare that was.

"When I came in, there was guards outside, is Lady Livia here?" Gina asked me in a whisper.

"No," I replied, "They're for me. Livia doesn't want me running off or anything."

Gina's eyes went wide, and asked, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," I said, not understanding what the big deal was, "So?"

"Do you how many slaves in the whole world get _personal guards?_" she asked me as we started to throw the animal furs on the bed.

"No?"

"Not many, and you're the only one in Rome," she replied. "Wow."

"She just doesn't want me to run," I rationalized.

"Varia, sometimes I swear you are so blind," she said to me, and I just knitted my eyebrows in confusement.

In the two years I had been here, I had begun to not completely despise my way of living. No, I still did not like being a slave, nor serving Livia, though nor would I enjoy serving anyone for that matter. But when it was just me and her, it was slightly bearable. Livia had begun to trust me in a way, and started to talk to me and share her life more.

"My mother abandoned me as an infant," she told me on day as I brushed her hair, though with no emotion attached to her voice.

"Does it bother you?" I asked, curious.

"Would it bother you?"

"Of course, every child needs their mother," I answered.

Livia sighed and shrugged, "I don't really know how I feel about it anymore. I used to hate her for it as a child, but now, it just doesn't seem important anymore. It's not like I will ever see her again to make her pay for her abandonment."

I ran the brush through her long dark hair and asked, "But if you ever did see her again, what would you tell her?"

"That I didn't need her, that I never needed her."

"But that's a lie," I said.

"A lie to cover my weakness," she said, justifying it.

"Needing your mother isn't a weakness, Livia."

"To me, needing anyone is a weakness. I already am weak enough by needing you, I don't need to break my walls down anymore."

I never really understood why Livia needed me so badly, but I never questioned her about it. I did rationalize it and realize that was why the guards were around me constantly, because she didn't want to lose me. Maybe it was what she said, she needed someone in her life to tell her the truth. Maybe it was for other reasons I didn't understand. Regardless of what it was, she only showed her weakness in the privacy of her slaves. Everyone outside of her bedroom thought the only purpose I was around was so she could torture me, and she played that up very well in public.

I had begun to regard Livia as two different people. When we were in public and she spat on me and showed me as being less than the dirt that she walked on around others, I hated her. But when it was just me and her, I don't know, maybe she started to grow on me a little. She fascinated me in a way, she was so strong and powerful outside of her bedroom walls, but when she came in the room and was alone with me she... would break, in a sort. And to be very honest, though I had no reason to, I sort of felt bad for her.

"Are you happy?" I asked her one day while doing her hair for a big palace party.

"Do I seem happy to you?" she countered in her monotone detached voice.

"No," I replied as I put some pins in her hair to hold it up.

"And why do you think that is, Amazon?"

I thought a minute and replied, "You're very lonely."

"I'm surrounded by many people, every day."

"That's not the only definition of lonely," I said.

"Then what is the other one?"

"Everyone around you wants either your power or your approval, but you're lonely because you want someone's love.... unconditionally."

"Yes," Livia said, "That would be nice."

"But no one can ever love you, if you don't love yourself first, and are able to show who you really are to someone," I told her.

"Then no one will ever love me."

Livia had a small bedroom built, adjoining hers. That was my room. She never allowed me to sleep in the slave quarters, and she told me it was because she didn't want their gossip tainting me. The room wasn't anything fancy, but it was much nicer than the slave quarters. Some nights, Livia would ask me to join her in her bed to sleep, though she never once told me to lie with her. I never really understood it, but in some way, appreciated it. It was like in a small way, she did hold some respect for me other than just as a slave.

I knew why she wanted me to sleep with her. Sometimes at night I could hear her crying, though she never did it in front of me or anyone else. After then, she started to ask me to come in there with her, and I never heard her cry again. Everytime she would get lonely or sad, she would send for me, and all she wanted me to do was hold her while she slept. At the beginning I hated it, but I didn't mind it so much now. It was just another part of my life, now.

One day, almost a year and a half after she had captured me, she sent for me to sleep with her. While I held her in my arms, she asked me quietly, "Do you still hate me?"

I was silent for a moment, contemplating it. Then I replied, "That's a complicated question."

"How so? You used to be able to answer it so easily."

"I hate who you pretend to be, I guess," I said, stroking her hair.

She turned in the bed to face me, and for a moment she looked slightly vulnerable, though it was gone as quick as it came to be replaced by her normal emptiness. "But not who I am."

"No," I replied, looking at her. "I feel sorry for who you are, but I do not hate you. Your unhappiness radiates off of you in waves. No one should be that way all the time, but yet that's all I've ever seen from you."

Livia looked me in the eyes, and for the first time, she didn't have a comment. Instead she moved her hand upwards, and I could tell she was slightly shaking. She touched my face lightly, and ran it down my cheek. It was the first time she had ever really touched me, and I closed my eyes.

"Did you hate that?" she asked me.

"No," I whispered, "That was nice." I opened my eyes and looked at her.

Livia nodded slightly and said, "Goodnight," before rolling over and letting sleep overtake her.

Sometimes I wish I could understand what goes on inside her head, but with how screwed up she had let herself become, I didn't know if there was anyway I could ever truly know, or if she would ever get out of it. I had heard of this before, warriors becoming so numb to the pain and the violence that they just kind of lose themselves in the process. Though I had never heard of someone who created a completely different personality to the masses, one that was the complete opposite of who she really was, or whoever she became. Maybe she was happy once, but if she was it was a very long time ago. To be honest, I didn't even think Livia knew what the word happy meant anymore.

**TBC....**


	6. Desire

**CHAPTER SIX - DESIRE**

I woke to the sound of Livia's labored breathing. I stayed still and quiet in my bed for a moment, just listening. It was a sound I heard every so often, whenever she sent for another slave to come and lie with her. I never saw her do it, Livia would always make sure I was in my room and asleep before she did it, not knowing that sometimes I woke in the middle of the night to hear her.

For some reason tonight, my curiosity got the better of me. I had never seen two people together, and though I heard it was a great experience, I wanted to see what was so great for myself. Quietly, I rose from my bed, and crept over to the door which was left slightly ajar. I looked out the crack, to see Livia completely naked on the bed, with another slaved named Joan. Joan's fingers seem to be buried inside of Livia, and she had her eyes closed as she rocked against her fingers.

I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I couldn't understand what it was. Maybe seeing it for myself bothered me a little bit. I had become so accustomed to Livia needing me around, and to see her needing someone else made me slightly jealous in a way. Even as a slave, I was highly pampered by Livia, because I was her favorite.

Then I saw Livia hold up her hand, and Joan stopped what she was doing. "Leave me," Livia said, though she clearly wasn't finished. The girl put on her clothes and left quickly, closing the door behind her.

I started to sneak back to bed when I heard my name being spoken, "Varia..."

I froze. Never in the two years that I served Livia did she ever call me by my name. She always called me Amazon, and to be honest I didn't even think she remembered it. She never asked for it again after that first day.

"Varia, I know your there, come here." She said.

I took a deep breath, and opened my door all the way, before walking slowly over to her.

"Yes?" I asked, though my breath caught in my throat as the moonlight shone over her through the window to highlight her naked body.

"Would you object to sleeping with me tonight, without your sleeping garments?" She asked me.

"I..." My throat was dry, and to be honest I didn't object to it at all. I was feeling a little weird, inside around my pelvis. I had never felt this before, and I wasn't sure what it was. "No, I wouldn't object," I said quietly.

"Good," Livia said in a soft voice, and watched me undress myself at her bedside. When all my clothes had all been removed, Livia moved over a little so I could lie with her on the bed.

I put my arms around her, and she laid her head on my breast. It wasn't unusual for her to do that, but usually I was clothed. My breath caught in my throat as I could feel her own on my nipple. It was growing hard, and I knew she could see it. I closed my eyes, not knowing what to do about how my body was reacting to her.

The hand that lay on my stomach was moving slightly, tracing little circles on my abdomen. I held my breath as she did it, and I started to get goosebumps, though I wasn't cold. I didn't know how she expected me to sleep with her... doing that.

"You were watching me, weren't you?" She asked me quietly.

"Yes," I breathed, as her hand went a little lower on my stomach.

"What were you thinking?" She asked.

"It..." I took a deep breath, to try to regain my composure. I didn't know what was happening, this was all very strange to me. "It was weird, seeing you with her."

"Why?" She asked me, as her fingers grazed above my hair line lightly, making my skin jump beneath her fingers. I could see her smile a little.

"Because I'm so used to you needing me," I replied breathlessly.

"What if I told you that I needed you now, and that was why I made her leave?"

I was silent, I didn't know how to answer her question.

"And what if I told you," she went on, "That everytime I have been with another woman since I met you, all I thought of was you?"

I didn't answer, I didn't know what to say to anything she was telling me. Livia's hand roamed up my stomach again, and brushed under my breast lightly. She moved her head, and looked at me. I looked back at her, our eyes meeting, and she asked me, "Can I?" Referring to her touching my breast.

"Yes," was out of my lips in a whisper before I could stop them, and her hand reach up to cup my breast and rub her thumb lightly over my nipple, and a small whimper escaped my lips.

Livia's breathing was getting heavier, and she looked me in the eyes the entire time she caressed my breast. That feeling in my pelvis was getting stronger, and between my legs started to grow wet. This was lust, I realized.

"Have you thought about touching me before?" She asked me as she played with my nipple.

"No," I said as my own breathing started to get labored.

"Are you thinking about it now?"

"Yes," I whispered, and Livia pinched my nipple between her fingers lightly and I gasped.

"I need you, Varia," she said to me in a heated whisper.

I turned on my side to face her, and our faces were just inches from each other. Our breath was on each other's lips, and I looked her in the eyes, "Why?" I whispered.

"Because being around you is the closest I've ever been to happy in over ten years," she told me quietly, every bit of honesty she had in her dripping from those words.

My head was getting closer to hers without me even realizing it. We were both moving so slowly it was barely noticeable, but then our lips were just a breath away from each other, and I whispered, "Keep me intact," referring to my hymen.

"I will," she promised quietly, before closing the distance between us and kissing me fully on the lips. I gasped and let out a small moan as my lips parted automatically, and her tongue was in my mouth. My arms wrapped around her, pressing her naked body against my own. Livia's hands were roaming my own, down my back and over the curve of my backside, making me let out another moan into her mouth.

Livia broke apart the kiss, and both of us were breathing heavily. She rolled me on my back, and got on top of me, looking down at me as she straddled my waist, the wetness from between her legs connecting with my stomach, making me gasp quietly.

"I've never done this before," she admitted to me.

"I thought you've lain with many women before," I asked her, running my hand up the smoothness of her thigh.

"I've never pleasured one before," she said softly. "They always did so to me, I've never had a desire to... until now."

She kissed me again, this time more passionately than the tentative one before it. I tangled my fingers in her chestnut hair, and gasped as her lips went from my own to my neck. She bit it softly, and I cried out quietly as I grabbed her back.

Livia's tongue traced down my neck to my chest, and she lowered herself on my body, connecting her center to my own, making both of us moan. She took my nipple in her mouth, and I gasped loudly, "Oh my Gods...."

This was the most incredible feeling I had ever had in my entire existence. Both of our bodies were heated beyond normal, and I felt like I might burst from my lust. I had heard about this before, but no one describing it had ever given it justice before.

Livia flicked my nipple with her tongue, and I closed my eyes and surrendered to the feeling. I was moaning more loudly now, and my nails lightly scratched up her back, making her gasp around my nipple.

I felt like I was about to explode, so I asked, "Livia..." She looked up at me, and I continued, "Is there a way to... release me... with still keeping me intact?"

She smiled, slightly amused by my innocence in this area, "Yes."

I was breathing heavily and looked at her, slightly vulnerable and nervous. "Will you do it?"

Livia didn't answer, instead she slid herself lower on the bed, until her face was positioned between my legs. I wasn't sure what she was about to do, but whatever it was I was going to let her. I just needed to release before I burst.

Then her mouth was on me, and I moaned loudly and my hands flew to the rails on the head of the bed, grabbing them tightly. "Livia!" I screamed her name out of instinct, but I was drowning in the feeling too much to care.

I spread my legs wider, to give her more room, and her tongue flicked against my clit, and I groaned loudly and hoisted my pelvis up more into her. I was screaming things I didn't even know I could scream as she pleasured me, and Livia was moaning into my clit, slightly vibrating it, enjoying what she was doing to me.

When I released, it was the most amazing feeling I had ever had. It was like pure ecstacy was pouring out of my body, and I screamed her name again as I came.

I laid there for a minute, breathless. Livia had positioned herself so she was sitting up, watching me. Then I lost what sense of self control I still held on to.

Forgetting who she was, and that I was nothing more than her slave, I pushed her onto the bed and got on top of her. I doubted that she even had a woman handle her like that, but she let me do it. I kissed her passionately, and could taste myself on her lips. Livia moaned loudly into my mouth and my hand roamed down over her breast, down her stomach, and to her center as I cupped it roughly, making her cry out in pleasure.

"Please Varia," she begged me.

She was begging me, her slave, and it made me feel powerful. I didn't know what exactly I was supposed to do, but I didn't care, I just went with it.

I pressed on her clit lightly, and she cried out and closed her eyes and grabbed onto me. Watching her with the other girl not long before this, I knew that this normally wasn't how she acted. But then again, nothing seemed to be normal when it came to us, though I had no idea why.

I slipped two finger inside of her, her wetness and warmness consuming me. She screamed loudly, something else I never heard her do with other women. "Take me, Varia!" She yelled, and I started to move my fingers roughly, mimicking the moves I saw the other girl do before.

Livia raised her hips to meet my hand, and pushed against me just as hard as I was pushing against her. She was moaning loudly, my name mixed in with her cries of pleasure and the obscenities she threw in. My face was still over hers, and I could feel each moan on my lips, before she opened her eyes to look at me before kissing me furiously, rocking her hips against my hand faster.

I moaned into her lips as I felt her contract around my fingers, and her essence poured out of her in a wave, soaking my entire hand. When she had finished, I took my fingers from her, and we both collapsed onto the bed next to each other.

We didn't say anything, we just looked at each other for a long time while we both breathed heavily. We didn't know what to say, it was a new experience for both of us. We didn't speak the rest of the night, we just curled into each other and fell asleep, and I dreamed of her that night.

**TBC....**


	7. Lies of the Betrayal

**CHAPTER SEVEN - LIES OF THE BETRAYAL**

Things changed after that night. Months had passed, and while Livia was still brutal and horrible to me in the company of others, it had lessened significantly. She just talked to me like I was nothing, demanded things, but she never laid a hand on me again. But when we were alone it was so much different. She started to regard me more as her equal, than her slave. Of course, no one was allowed to know this, not even the other slaves. When once they knew everything, Livia did not trust them to keep this kind of a secret. While if one of them disobeyed her and told Augustus of her... _exploits_ with the other woman, she could pass it off as a passing attraction, one that held no leverage against her feelings for him. Or, at least what kind of feelings he thought she had for him. But to try to explain her falling for one of them, not just using them as a sexual release but as something more... that could jeopardize her future with the Roman court, and that was not something Livia was ready to give up.

I didn't know exactly I felt about Livia. I was growing more attracted to her, of that I couldn't deny. After that night we spent together, after the way she treated me, I couldn't just pretend to despise her existence. The years I spent with her really wasn't all that bad, and the times when Livia and I were alone I actually started to enjoy and look forward to. But in a way I felt like I was betraying my tribe. This woman enslaved us all and sold all of them to the highest bidder. Maybe they did end up getting away, but what would they say when they decide to come after Livia for revenge, and see me standing beside her? I don't think they would exactly understand that Livia was pretty much two different people, and that when she was around me she wasn't the woman who enslaved me.

"What are you thinking about?" Livia asked me as she brushed my long brown hair.

I looked in the mirror in front of me, to look at her standing behind me. "My tribe, and how I would explain this to them if I ever saw them again," I answered.

Livia narrowed her eyes at me a little, but said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

"You don't know the Amazon's very well," I replied. "They'll get out, if they haven't already. Maybe not all of them, but most of them. And when they do, they're going to come after you."

"My army has defeated them once before, we can do it again."

"No," I said, and turned to look at her. "I don't want another war, and I don't want to be stuck in the middle, either."

"How would you be stuck in the middle?" She asked, and I just stared at her like she was stupid.

"How do you think?" I asked incredulously.

"Don't insult my intelligence by pretending you have feelings for me, Varia."

"And don't insult mine by pretending you don't!" I yelled, and Livia stood up looking shocked. I had never once raised my voice to her, and she kind of stumbled back like I hit her when she stood.

Livia didn't say anything, so I went on, advancing towards her. "Explain to me Livia, if you don't have feelings for me, why is it that no one is allowed to know that we lie together? That you don't treat me like a slave when we're in the privacy of your quarters? That you let me sleep in your bed every night?"

"I never said I didn't have... feelings... for you," Livia said, quietly, though like it was hard to admit.

"And yet you think I don't for you? I let you lay with me!"

Livia pushed past me, not wanting to have this conversation. I turned around and watched her storm past me, "Livia!"

She stopped and said with an even tone, "You can't have feelings for me, Varia. You just can't."

"Why not?" I asked angrily.

She turned to face me, and it was the saddest I had ever seen her look, "Because I'm not worth caring about."

"No," I said, "You're not." Livia looked down, but I continued, "But for some reason I do, and I don't know why."

"I'm not worth it," she repeated, and I sighed.

"Don't be dramatic. You've wanted me for years, and now that you have me you want to throw it away? Why? Because you keep feeling the need to torture yourself?"

"You don't understand the things I've done..." Livia said, and almost sounded like she regretted them.

"Then stop doing them," I said.

"I can't."

"Yes you can!"

"You don't understand, Varia! I've worked for my entire life to become what I am now, the Champion of Rome! Every warrior wants to be able to fight like me, and every noble lady wants to have Augustus' eye as I do. I have everything I have ever wanted!"

I walked over to her, and put my hands on her arms, "But yet you hate yourself for it."

"Glory is more important than self love," she replied as she looked up at me.

"If that's what you believe, then you are a fool," I said sadly as I took my hands off of her and went to walk away.

"Varia..." I turned, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to her. "I just.. I can't... I'm not ready to give up this life. Yes it makes me unhappy but I worked so hard for it that I can't just let it go. Maybe one day I can, but right now I just _can't_."

I looked at her for a long time before I touched her face, kissing her softly, "Fine, do what you will with your life, it's not my decision to make."

I let her go, and she said softly, "Thank you."

I turned and looked at her, "Don't thank me."

Livia didn't say another word after that, just motioned for me to sit down next to her on her bed. She tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed my neck softly, and I closed my eyes, not knowing that someone was watching us from outside of the door.

****

I was sleeping in my own bedroom when I heard it. Livia was out leading a battle outside of the Roman gates, and she advised me to sleep in my room until she came back. I didn't mind it, I just missed the animal skins, the silk sheets... and her. But Livia could not lock her door while she was gone, it would look suspicious, and if anyone saw me lying there I would be sure to get a beating. After all, to everyone else, I was just her slave.

The door to my room opened, and I heard a man say, "There she is! Grab her!"

I was picked up by two Roman guards, and held in place as one of them backhanded me across the face. "You'll pay for planning to assassinate Livia," he said.

"What?!" I asked in disbelief, before being hauled off to the dungeons.

I was thrown into a cell, and fell to the cold, hard floor. I winced in pain as I tried to sit up, but was kicked in the face to be thrown back down. My nose started to bleed, and I stayed where I was until I was sure my cell door was closed and all the guards had left.

I coughed, and some blood fell from my mouth to the cement floor below. What had just happened?

I heard laughter from a dark corner, and I turned to look. The slave girl, Joan, emerged from the shadows to look at me, smiling in this twisted way.

"You..." I said dangerously, "What have you done?"

"I'm taking care of a little problem," she replied. "With you out of the way, the affections of Livia will be mine."

"You fool, you don't think Livia is going to get me out of this, and not to mention kill you when I tell her this was your doing?"

She walked closer to the bars of my cell, and I stood up to stand at her full height. "See, that's the beauty of it, you'll be dead before she even gets back from the battle."

I reached out through the bars to grab at her throat, but she stepped back out of my reach and laughed. "I'll kill you myself then," I promised her.

"Good luck with that, _assassin_," she laughed.

"Do you really think that with me gone Livia will love _you?_" I spat at her.

"It really doesn't matter. But I know with you gone, she will start sending for me to lie with her again. You see, she stopped doing that a couple months ago."

"...Ever since I started doing it," I said in realization as I finished her sentence.

"Exactly. And no maybe she won't love me, but I know she'll have other needs that I can take care of." She turned to leave while saying, "If you believe in the Gods, now would be an excellent time to start praying."

**TBC....**


	8. Saying Goodbye

**CHAPTER EIGHT - SAYING GOODBYE**

I was being dragged out of my cell, and taken to the stocks where I would await my fate at the noose. I screamed and tried to fight off the guards, but all it got me was a beating. When I was thrown and locked in the stocks in the middle of the town square, blood was dripping from a cut on my forehead and was slowly making it's way down into my eye, which started to sting.

I didn't know how this happened. Well, I did, but it was just so ridiculous. Here I was, finally content with being a slave, and finding myself having feelings for a high ranking Roman General who just happened to have feelings for me as well... and then within an instant it was all ripped right out from under me. And now here I was, in the stocks, about to be killed for a crime I didn't commit, all because of a jealous slave girl. This just seemed so unreal I had a hard time grasping it.

Part of me tried to convince myself that this wasn't going to happen. That Livia was going to show up and save me, and murder that lying little weasel Joan. But some part of me knew it was a feeble wish. Livia wasn't due to return for a couple days, by that time I would be six feet under, and the truth couldn't save me then.

I was stuck in that stock for the night, having to endure the constant taunts and jests from the towns people as they passed. The disgusted and disappointed looks from those who knew why I was in there. I tried to keep my eyes trained on the ground, not wanting to look at anyone any longer.

I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare, and just be back in Livia's bed with her arms around me, but that wasn't going to happen. She wasn't going to come for me. I would never see her again, never kiss her again, never speak to her again. I would also never see Tura again, never rescue her from that place she was in, never see her grow up into the amazing woman I know she would become.

I felt a tear fall from my eye before I could stop it. This wasn't a dream, this was real. I was going to die come sunrise, for something I didn't do. I was upset, I was angry... furiously angry. I didn't deserve this. This was wrong, so wrong. I didn't have a prayer, I didn't have a hope... I was alone. I was going to die alone.

****

"I swear to Zeus I didn't! I would never!" I screamed futilely as I was dragged up the platform in the middle of the town square. There was a crowd of people down below, many screaming things like 'Kill the traitor slave!' and such. I fought as hard as I could against the guards, but it was no use. My fighting skills as an Amazon had long been lost over the years, and I was very much overpowered.

I had no trial. I was a slave, and in the eyes of the Roman law I didn't deserve one. I was less than human in their eyes. Also, seeing as I was Livia's personal slave, it didn't matter if I was planning on assassinating her or not, just the slightest rumor made me a breach in security, and I needed to be eliminated.

The noose was wrapped around my neck, and I was shoved over the trap door. I choked back my tears, refusing to cry in my last moments. The executioner announced my death with, "Slave To Rome, executed for the planned attempted assassination of Livia."

That's all I was, a slave to Rome. Not even at my death did I deserve to finally be addressed by my own name. Not that it mattered anymore, because in about thirty seconds I would be hanging from this noose with not a breath of life left in me.

I looked around, at my last glimpse of this earth. A small part of me hoped I would see Livia ride int though the crowd, and demand that I be let go. But she never showed. I saw the executioner raise his hand towards the lever that would release the trap door, and I held my breath.

This was it. I was going to die.

His hand was on the lever. He pulled... and I dropped.

But instead of meeting my death, my body hit the ground. I looked up, dazed and a little confused by not finding myself in Tartarus. The rope that was around my neck had been cut, and a small dagger was embedded in the wall behind the noose, which is what the executioner was staring at in shock. And then I saw a person riding in on a horse, dressed in a black cloak with their face covered, coming in through the crowd and towards me.

Two guards tried to stop whoever it was, but they were cut down almost immediately by the rider's sword. I was still lying there on the ground, just watching, amazed by what was going on. Who would save me?

Then the rider was next to me, and their hand was extended. "Get up!" The rider screamed, and I realized who it was. Scrambling to my feet, I grabbed onto her hand, and hauled myself up onto the horse behind her. She fought our way out of the city gates, and I held onto her for my life.

We rode for miles, far away from Rome. Finally we were in the middle of the forest, and we stopped. We both dismounted, and the rider took off her cloak, reveling herself to be Livia. "What happened?" She demanded.

I collapsed onto a near by rock, and didn't speak. I was in shock, I thought for sure I would die, and now suddenly I was saved. It all happened so fast, it was hard to process.

"Varia what happened?!" Livia demanded, taking me by the shoulders and shaking me to get me out of my trance.

"They... they thought I was planning to assassinate you," I said, looking up at her.

"Were you?" she asked.

Anger crossed over my face, and I stood up to face her. "How can you ask me that?!" I screamed.

"Well then why would they think that?" She asked, softer this time, maybe feeling bad for asking that question.

"That... slave girl, Joan! She... she knows, Livia. She knows about us, and she wants me dead because she wants you. She told them that to get rid of me," I replied, looking away from her.

"Fuck," Livia said, and sighed. I looked over at her, it was the only time I had ever heard her curse outside of the obscenities she used to scream in bed at night when I lied with her. "She'll die for this, I promise you that."

I was silent for a minute, then asked her something that was kind of bothering me, "How did you know?"

"I don't know," Livia answered softly, as if trying to figure it out herself. "I just knew something was wrong, so I told my army that I was going scouting up ahead, but I took off back here."

"It doesn't matter now, we can talk about it at home. Can we go home?" I asked her, touching her hand.

Livia wrapped her fingers around mine, and held my hand. She didn't look at me when she replied, "No, you can't go home, Varia."

Confusion crossed my face, and turned to face her, "What?" I asked softly. "Why? Why can't I go home with you?"

Livia let go of my hand, and went to walk away from me but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back around to face me. "Why Livia? Why can't I go home?" I asked a little louder this time, a little more desperate.

"Because you're a slave!" she cried out, ripping her arm out of my grasp as desperation and regret crossed over her features.

"Why...?" I started to ask, but was interrupted.

"They think you were trying to kill me, you escaped your execution... if I bring you back with me there will be too many questions. I can't tell them what's going on between us, and I can't lie my way around to save you from the noose again, Varia. I'm sorry, but there's nothing left for you in Rome."

"But... you're in Rome," I said softly, trying not let myself cry.

"Varia..." Livia said, as she reached up to touch my face, and when I looked up at her I saw her eyes glistening with tears. "You don't know how bad I wish I could bring you back with me. But I need to protect you, and I can't do that in Rome. You have to leave... go find your tribe, be an Amazon again."

"I... I don't want to be without you," I said, and a tear slid down my cheek.

"You have to, please. I swear I'll find you one day, I promise you that. But you can't be in Rome anymore, it's not safe for you." She tucked my hair behind my ear, and leaned in to kiss my lips softly. I wrapped my arms around her neck and kissed her back deeply, not wanting to ever let her go. When we broke apart, it made me feel so empty inside, and I knew that was how I was going to feel for the rest of my life.

Livia took the horse by the reins, and handed them to me, "Take the horse, ride back to your lands. Find your tribe, free your sister. Live, Varia. This is your chance at true freedom, just take it."

I looked at the horse, and then I looked at her. I kissed her again, before mounting the horse. Looking down at her I said, "Livia... this isn't who you are. I hope that when we meet again, you've found yourself." I reached around my neck, and pulled off the necklace I was wearing, the one from my tribe. I threw it down to her, and she caught it, and I gave her one last look, knowing I had to leave before I did something stupid like deciding to go back to Rome just to get killed. I gave her a small smile before saying goodbye, and I rode off through the woods, sure that I would never see her again.

**TBC....**


	9. Same Face, Different Name

**CHAPTER NINE - SAME FACE, DIFFERENT NAME**

Three years had passed since the last time I had seen Livia. I rode back home to my lands, and found my tribe again. Many had survived the slave traders, but some, like Shalaya, didn't make it. It was those who thought that they would die a slave... did. We organized a rescue mission for my sister, Tura, but she didn't make it either. I cried for what seemed like forever, angry with myself that I couldn't keep my promise to her. I was told she tried to escape, and died during the beating they gave her for it. I wanted revenge on Gurkhan, but my sisters talked me out of it. Going up against him in his fortress was suicide.

Our tribe flourished over the years, and I finally began to become an Amazon again. Marga, our Queen, appointed me as her second in command, and I learned the art of fighting quickly and very well. I became one of our tribes best warriors, and I was proud of myself. I finally was living, and serving a purpose in my life.

Not a day went by when I didn't think about Livia. Of course I told my tribe I escaped, and that Livia was a horrible monster. I never told them about what happened between us, or that I grew to fall in love with the woman who captured us all. I never told Livia I loved her either, not that I ever planned to. While I knew she had feelings for me, I doubted they ever grew to become love, because I wasn't entirely sure if she was capable of that emotion.

One day, while in the middle of a battle, some strangers came onto our lands and started fighting off our enemies with us. After the battle had ceased, the three women approached us, and Marga spoke to them.

It was the legendary Xena, the Warrior Princess, and the famous Queen Gabrielle. With them was another woman, though I couldn't quite get a good look at her. Marga introduced both of us, and Xena replied with: "Xena, Gabrielle, and Eve."

I looked at the woman named Eve when she stepped out from behind Xena, and I gasped. Marga looked at me questionably, but my eyes were on Eve. When her eyes went up and met mine, they grew as wide as saucers.

It was Livia. Eve... was Livia.

I didn't say anything, and neither did she. I didn't want the whole tribe to know who she was, so I turned my gasp into a cough to cover it and kept quiet. I just stared at her, and she just stared back at me.

She looked so different. I was so used to her under all this armor, and a scowl always on her face while in the presence of others, but she was... soft. She wore loose clothing, and her hair was down around her face in curls, and she looked almost happy. If Livia didn't react to my presence the same way I did to hers, then I would have thought it a freak coincidence that someone in the world was out there looking almost identical to Livia. Because in a way, that would have made more sense than what stood before me.

As Marga spoke to Xena and Gabrielle as we made our way back to the village, I fell in step a few paces behind them and in sync with Livia's foot steps. There were Amazons on all sides of us, so we didn't look at each other while I whispered out of the side of my mouth so no one but her could hear, "What are you doing here?"

Her eyes were focused on the path ahead of us, and she replied with a hint of amusement in her voice, "I said I would find you, didn't I?"

I cocked an eyebrow automatically and I whispered back, "Yes you did, but you were just as surprised to see me, so I know this wasn't planned."

The village was up ahead in the distance now and Xena took a look back in Livia's direction, then her eyes flickered over to me. I tried to play completely natural, but Xena was just as intimidating as all the stories. When she turned back around, Livia answered me quietly.

"Can we meet somewhere private to talk tonight?"

I stayed silent for a moment. I knew that was best, because playing these whispering games could only lead to the risk of Livia's exposure here, and if the tribe know who she really was then she was dead. Not to mention myself, for my betrayal.

"Midnight, directly north of the village a little ways is a riverbank."

She shifted her eyes to look at me for a moment, and I dared myself to look back at her. For the few seconds our eyes met, all those feelings in the pit of my stomach started to go nuts. She gave a slight head nod, barely noticeable, but it was there. When our eyes tore apart, I took a deep breath, and I tried to calm all the rushing thoughts that were invading my brain.

I had convinced myself that I would never see Livia again. She said she would find me one day, but I never thought it to be true. I never thought I would lay eyes on her again, or that I would ever have the chance to tell her the things I should have told her so long ago. But then here she was, in my village, looking completely different and going by a different name all these years later. She was so different... yet still the same. The feelings I felt when I was around her didn't change in the least, even though clearly so much had changed. I never thought for a moment that even if by some miracle this did happen, that she would still feel the same for me, that she would have moved on. And while she clearly didn't depend on me anymore for a tiny taste of happiness, she still had feelings for me after three years. I could tell, I could see it in her eyes, and I just needed midnight to get her... and quickly.

****

It was dark, and the only light around was the reflection of the moon being cast off of the waters. I leaned against a tree, staring out at the deep blue water, my heart pounding so hard in my chest from anticipation that I was sure Livia would be able to find me just from hearing it. I was nervous and excited, and I was having trouble keeping still. I kept playing with my hands, just waiting for her to show up.

The day went by painfully slow, and as I sat by Marga's side as she spoke to Xena and Gabrielle in the Queen's hut, I found myself being distracted. I stared out the window, watching Livia walk through the Amazon's training sessions, watching all of our warriors as they prepared for the next inevitable battle. As she walked slowly through the lines, the slight breeze would catch her hair, making her beautiful brown curls flow back softly and expose her porcelain features.

At one point, Marga noticed that I wasn't paying attention, and I ended up getting kicked in the leg under the table, and as I refrained from crying out I looked over in her direction and she gave me a pointed look which meant, 'We'll talk later'.

After we spoke to the visiting Queen and Xena, Marga pulled me aside and asked, "Is everything okay, Varia? You seem a little distant... and distracted."

"I'm fine," I reassure her, trying to be as convincing as possible. "I guess it's just an off day for me is all. I'm sorry, I'll try to stay more focused."

Marga looked me over, as if trying to decide if I was telling her the truth. She didn't push the issue further, however, and I was able to leave the hut and breathe freely.

I could hear the grasshoppers chirp from the tall grass that covered the riverbank, and I looked up at the moon. I heard a branch snap behind me, and I turned instinctively to face whoever it was, ready to be defensive if need be. But within a moment I was pressed up against the tree, between it's rough bark and Livia, before she kissed me passionately.

She took me by surprise, but it only took me a minute to recover and wrap my arms around her as I drowned in the feeling of her again. When we broke apart, both of us were breathing a little heavy and we just looked at each other for a long time.

"Livia..." I started, but she put two fingers over my lips to silence me.

"Eve," she corrected. "Please, call me Eve."

"Eve," I repeated, and was silent for a minute before asking my thousand questions that has been running through my mind all day, "What's going on? Why are you here? Why are you traveling with Xena and calling yourself Eve? I mean I'm so confused, I never thought I would ever see you again, and then you show up here looking completely different and going by a new name and I'm just... I mean I..."

I didn't know exactly what I was saying anymore, my confusion was taking over at that point.

Livia.... Eve, smiled at my obvious confusion, slightly amused by it, and it was then I realized how hard it used to be for her to smile... even at me during our so called relationship. It was almost as if the muscles on her face never could work out that way. But she was here in front of me, smiling like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"What happened to you?" I whispered, slightly in awe by the woman that stood in front of me.

Eve took my hand and laced our fingers together and it was for the first time that I could really just look at her and take her in how she was, and I noticed what was hanging around her neck. The necklace... my necklace... the one I had thrown to her right before I left. Eve guided me down to the ground to sit next to her on a rock, and I obliged.

We sat there for a long time while she tried to explain what had happened to her in the last few years. She told me how Xena came back, her mother, looking for her after being frozen for twenty five years. She told me how her mother finally saved her from herself, because after I left she felt so lonely and angry that she took out her wrath on the whole world. She had stripped herself of the name Livia, and took on her birth name Eve when she finally realized the monster that she had let herself become was not the path she was meant to walk in life. She had renounced violence as she was initiated into the Way of Love to become Eli's messenger, which was one of the things that surprised me most of all.

She revealed to me, so quiet it was barely audible as she looked out over the water, that sometimes she felt so lost because she had this whole destiny formed before she was born, and she didn't think she was going to be able to live up to it. And that sometimes when people looked at her like she was some sort of savior, that the guilt in her chest was barely containable because it was the last thing that she was in her eyes. She was trying to live up to what was foretold, and she seemed to be moving much too fast then what she was ready to handle. She felt like she had no right to tell people she couldn't handle all of this that fast, because mass murderers don't deserve to ask for anything.

Eve started to cry as she told me the secrets she held inside of her, and I wrapped my arms around her and held her as she sobbed. I knew her, and I knew this was the first time she ever voiced what she was feeling, and from being bottled up for so long it just kind of felt like an explosion when it came out. And I guess still, some things never change. She was never one to show weakness in front of anyone else... besides her slaves.

It was so different with us now. When once she spoke in nothing but a detached and hollow voice, now she's finally letting herself feel her emotions, and it was starting to consume her with all the years of it being oppressed. I used to be this child when we met, and Livia always looked so big and scary... so powerful, and so much higher than me. But as Eve lay crying in my arms, I realized we were finally on the same level. Whether I rose up or she fell down was up to debate, but we were finally on level ground.

I wasn't exactly sure how to handle this new person. When once all I had to do was be truthful to her to satisfy her, now she needed so much more. I wasn't against it, quite the opposite, but it wasn't what I was used to. When she finally looked up at me and her sobbing subsided, I kissed her forehead.

Her cheeks were tear-stained and she whispered, in the most vulnerable voice I had ever come out of her mouth, the question she had asked me a thousand times before. "Do you hate me?"

"No," I said softly to her, looking her in the eyes as I stroked her hair, deciding in that moment to finally tell her. "I love you."

**TBC...**


	10. Caught In The Act

**CHAPTER TEN - CAUGHT IN THE ACT**

As we walked back to the village together, our hands entwined, I couldn't help but smile. After I told her I loved her, it resulted in more emotional crying on Eve's part, and her admitting to me that she loved me for years, and always regretting not saying anything before we parted ways.

"I killed her, you know," Eve said to me quietly, and back in a slight monotone so she could detach herself from the violent memories.

My eyebrows knitted in confusement as we walked down the path, "Who?"

"That bitch of a slave girl who did that to you. I decapitated her personally," she replied, making a point not to look at me, and speaking about it as if I asked what kind of weather she thought tomorrow would bring.

"I never doubted you would," I said, looking at her.

She looked back at me, and then back down the stretch of empty path. There was a moment of silence before she asked, "How could you ever have feelings for Livia?" She asked the question as if it was something dirty that I should be ashamed of.

"You mean feelings for you?" I corrected.

"No, Livia," she replied.

I stopped walking for a moment, forcing her to stop as well. I turned her by her hand to face me and said seriously, "Eve, just because you changed your name, it doesn't make you a new or different person. You were Livia, and if you try to detach yourself from your past your going to lose yourself so quickly in this delusion you created that when it finally comes crashing down, there is no way you would be able to handle it."

Eve didn't say anything, which I took as a sign of understanding because I was sure if she had something to say in retort she would have said it. She tugged on my hand a little, and we began walking again.

"And to answer your question, I really don't know. I've thought about it over these past two years, and I still have yet to find a logical reason that explains me falling for the woman that enslaved my tribe and kept me from my family for years. That brutalized and killed so many people." Eve's head noticeably dropped, ashamed, but I continued, "But something drew me towards you, I guess. I knew you weren't who you pretended so hard to be, that you had the potential to be an amazing woman, you just needed some help to get there. Plus, for years you respected my decision not to lie with you, when you and I both know you could have taken me very easily."

"I couldn't just take you, Varia," Eve replied. "I didn't want to conquer you, I wanted to win you."

"I can't believe you had the patience to play the game for that long," I said in a slightly haughty voice, kind of resenting her regarding me as something to be won.

"I didn't play the game," she replied before looking me in my eyes. "The game played me."

We were right outside the village now, and as we walked in it I tried to think of a response to her reply. I didn't get the chance however, because suddenly as if out of no where, Xena was standing in front of us. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she was staring both of us down. We both jumped instinctively when we realized she was there, and I was struck dumb. I didn't know what to do or say, I just felt like I got caught sneaking back into my lovers room by their parents. But this was so much worse, because if Xena drew attention to us, then me and Eve might end up spending eternity together... in the afterlife.

Xena's eyes scanned us, right down to our entwined hands. We both let go of each other like we were burned, and Xena's eyes went back up to look at both of our scared faces. She said quietly as she motioned to the hut her and Gabrielle were staying in, "Both of you, follow me."

We didn't move, it was like we had lost the ability. But Xena turned back to us after she had already started to walk away and demanded quietly, "Now!"

Our feet obeyed her words, and we hurried after her into her hut. As Xena closed the door behind her, Gabrielle woke up with a start. "Wha– What's going on?" she asked, sitting up to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Ask the mistress and the slave," Xena said, motioning to the two of us.

We both stared at her in disbelief in already knowing the history we had with each other, but before we could reply Xena continued. "You two are being incredibly stupid. Seeing each other in the dead of night, thinking no one will see you and foolishly believing the whole village is asleep. Do you realize you both could be on trial for your lives in the morning if it was anyone but me who saw you?"

Eve tried to speak, but Xena kept on.

"Eve sweetie, I understand that you want to redeem yourself for the wrongs you've committed. I understand that, I do. And while I do think you should deal with the one you committed against the Amazon Nation, I don't think now is the time, especially when you are in the arms of the Queens second in command. This could get messier than you can even imagine."

"Mother," Eve said, finally getting to interrupt. "How did you...?"

"How did I know that you two knew each other before this?" Xena finished for her daughter. "While Queen Marga, Gabrielle, and myself were speaking earlier today, she told me it had been very hard since the warlord Livia raided her village for slaves many years ago. She even told me how she captured you, Varia," she said nodding to me, "And that you miraculously escaped years later. I was worried for a while that you might recognize Eve and turn her in, since she was such a _horrible_ and _cruel_ captor, and I figure that would be something you weren't likely to forget." She emphasized each word that I used to describe Livia to Marga with sarcasm. "But seeing how you two decided to make out like teenagers in heat near the river, I have to say I don't find your escape so miraculous anymore."

"Wait," Gabrielle interjected, trying to follow the conversation while half awake. "Eve, you had _sex slaves_ when you were in Rome?!"

"I was not a sex slave!" I said, slightly offended.

Eve collapsed onto a chair near by, and put her head in her hands, not wanting to deal with all of this. "Varia was my... personal slave for a couple of years," she answered.

"And part of that job description requires basically eating your face?" Xena asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Not my face...." Eve mumbled under her breath, to while Gabrielle put the covers over her head after making a noise and said something about not wanting to know those kinds of details.

"Look," Eve continued, trying to push back the embarrassment of this conversation. I was glad at least one of us could, I thought I was going to die right there on that spot. "I had many slaves in the palace, and yes most of them preformed... sexual favors.... for me. But Varia was my personal slave, and she did no such thing."

"Seems a little backwards," Xena replied.

"Maybe it was, I don't know. My point is, when I finally lay with her, it wasn't because I summoned or ordered her too... it was because... well...." Eve trailed off, losing her nerve. Talking about sex with her mother I guess was one thing she could handle, but feelings seemed to be a different story.

"Because I was in love with her," I finished for Eve while trying to keep my shaking voice steady, finally speaking after all this time.

Xena and Gabrielle both looked at me, apparently surprised that I ended up falling for the murderous Livia. There was silence for a minute, then Xena asked, "You were, or you are?"

I looked at Eve, and then back at Xena, and with my voice steady and full of honesty I replied. "I'm still in love with your daughter, with Eve."

"Varia is the only reason you were able to pull me back from where I was, Mother," Eve said, making Xena's eyes fall on her. "Without her, without someone feeling for me that way, without someone that I could feel that way for in my life, and without her keeping me from falling over the edge so many times, neither of us would be here right now, we both would have died in Eli's temple that day. I could accept Eli's love because I had already experienced love, though I would have never admitted it back then. You have no idea how empty I was before I met her."

Xena was silent for a moment, and I held my breath, wondering what was going to happen.

"You two are going to have to play this off like your just starting to fall for each other, you do realize that, right?" Xena replied finally.

We both looked at each other, she expected us to go public?

Xena noticed our exchanged looks and continued, "You two can't expect to sneak around this village and have no one notice. Questions will be asked. Tomorrow morning, Varia, you need to tell the closest person to you in this village that you're getting interested in Eve. Eve, your going to have to innocently flirt with her where someone can see you. Within a week, you two will be able to show mild affection towards each other, and hopefully if this all goes over without any problems, you guys can convince them that this just happened. Otherwise, you both know what could happen." We both nodded, and she continued, "Until then, don't do anymore stupid things."

"Yes Mother," Eve replied, and I nodded my head in agreement. This was all far more complicated that I realized it would be, but I knew it was the only way we could do this and be able to get away with it.

"Now get off to bed you two, you have a lot of convincing to do tomorrow."

**TBC...**


	11. Instictual Needs

**CHAPTER ELEVEN - INSTINCTUAL NEEDS**

The next day when I was with Marga, I started the lie. We were sitting together outside going over battle strategies, while Eve was sitting on the far side of the main clearing, writing in a scroll. When it was clear Marga had finished with what we were going to go over today I attempted to get the conversation going.

"What do you make of Eve?" I asked her.

Marga looked up at me, surprised. I couldn't blame her, I had never asked her opinion on another woman. "Why do you ask?" she countered curiously.

"I'm just wondering," I said evasively while I looked at Eve across the clearing.

"Well," Marga started, "She seems like a nice girl. She's very strong, I can tell even though she tries to suppress it. I guess though, having Xena as a mother would provide that. She seems very secretive though, like she doesn't want anyone to find out her vulnerabilities."

I didn't look at Marga, just continued to stare at Eve. "She's very beautiful, don't you think?"

Marga gasped and hit my leg lightly, making me look at her. "Varia... are you trying to tell me that for the first time in your life you might be interested in someone?"

I flushed red involuntarily and mumbled, "I don't know..."

Marga laughed a little and teased, "You know the whole tribe thought you were asexual. Being the age you are, and never once finding an interest in a man or a woman. Guess your just a late bloomer, huh?"

I flushed a deeper shade of red and mumbled, "StuffitMarga."

"Aww come on Varia, I'm sorry, but I just find it cute."

"Great," I said sarcastically, while I tried as hard as I could to make the redness in my cheeks fade.

"Do you know if she's interested in you?" Marga asked, and I just shrugged.

"Well why don't you.... wait, we might end up finding out in a second anyway," Marga said, interrupting herself as she noticed Eve was heading in our direction.

"Varia, right?" Eve asked me when she came over. I did all I could to not blurt out how convincing that sounded. I opted for just staying silent and nodding my head, at least maybe making it look like I was nervous around Eve.

"You know, I watched you spar this morning," Eve said as she slid next to me on the log I was sitting on.

"Oh?" I replied, not sure where she was trying to go with this.

"Yeah..." she said, and she lightly brushed her hand over my thigh, making me slightly jump out of instinct. "I love what you can do with your body, you must have amazing muscle structure."

I tried not to laugh, she was playing this up like part innocent seductress, part bar wench. I composed myself and replied, "Well... I work out... a lot."

"I can see that," she said in almost a purr as her eyes roamed my body. "Would you mind teaching me some moves later?" She cocked an eyebrow at me, like she was suggesting more than she was saying.

"Y-Yeah... sure," I stuttered, though it wasn't because I was trying to stay in character, it was because of what Eve implied, because it seemed like she wasn't implying it in character.

"Great," she said before rising. "I'll see you a little later then." She gave me a coy little smirk before practically strutting off. I just stood there in shock, staring after her.

"I guess that answers my question," Marga said, laughing. She patted my back and giggled at my shocked look. "You okay there, killer?"

"What?" I said, looking back at Marga. "Oh yeah, yeah I'm fine."

Marga laughed before she rose, "Alright, good luck with Eve. Though the way she practically just drooled on you, I doubt you'll need it."

****

Later that evening, I was in my hut getting ready for dinner, when all of a sudden I hear a noise from the window behind me. Grabbing my dagger, I whipped around, only to be greeted with the sight of Eve, standing in front of it.

I put the dagger down and said, "Gods, what are you trying to do, give me a heart attack? And what are you doing here, you so shouldn't be here right now, and you so shouldn't be climbing through my window this soon!"

Eve didn't say anything, just reached her hand behind her back. I was about to ask again when suddenly her shirt fell from her body, exposing the naked top half of her body to my eyes. My breath caught in my throat and I took a step back automatically so I wouldn't topple over.

"You were going to teach me some moves, remember?" She replied innocently, advancing towards me. She backed me up against the wall, and her naked breasts pressed against me. Her breath was on my lips and she whispered, "Or maybe you'd just like me to teach you some of mine..."

My breathing got heavy, and I could feel myself growing wet under my skirt. She touched my face, making me close my eyes, and she ran her fingertips delicately over my neck and down towards my breasts. Removing the clasp that held my top together, it fell from my body, making my bare breasts touch her own. I moaned instinctively from the feeling of her skin against mine after all these years, but I had to keep my wits about me. This was so dangerous right now.

"What are you doing?" I whispered with my eyes still closed. "We cant do this right now, you know that...."

Eve kissed my neck, and I bit my lower lip softly to keep myself from moaning again. I clenched my hands into fists, trying to fight off the urge to just take her right there, and not care if anyone knows.

"I've been without your touch for two years, I can't wait any longer," she replied as she bit the nape of my neck softly.

"Eve..." her name came out as a soft moan as her hands started to trail over my stomach lightly. "We need to wait at least a couple days.... please.... we.... mmmm...." My sentence was interrupted by her hand finding my nipple, and playing with the very tip of it lightly, making me lose all thought and surrender to the feeling.

"I bet if I touched you, the amount of liquid dripping down your thighs right now would tell me you really don't want to wait," she countered as she started to rake her nails lightly up my thigh.

"I don't!" I gasped out as her fingers brushed lightly over my clit from underneath my skirt. "But... But we have to..."

I finally gather enough strength to push her back off of me a little and finish, still in labored breathing from the feelings she was doing to me, "Is laying with me right now really worth the price we could pay?"

Eve just looked at me, not more than a couple paces in front of me, and I saw a look I've never seen before flash across her face. She never said anything, she just turned and grabbed her shirt, and started to put it back on on her way back over to the window to leave.

"Eve!" I said, trying to get her to come back. She didn't turn around, so I walked briskly over to her and grabbed her shoulder lightly to turn her to face me, "Eve! What's..." But I stopped as I saw tears running down her face, and I finished with, "...wrong?" before she shoved me off of her and turned away again.

"I'm fine, forget it, I'll see you at dinner."

I just looked at her incredulously, "Eve, don't do this to me."

"Don't do what?" she asked as tied her shirt together, still not looking at me.

"Your shutting me out. You cried in front of me yesterday, why can't you today? Why can't you tell me what's wrong?" I asked as I started to put back on my own shirt.

"You've always been so smart and intuitive, you tell me," she replied in slightly condescending tone.

I was silent for a minute, then replied quietly, "You haven't been happy at all since I left Rome... have you?"

Eve was silent to for a minute, then whispered so low I barely heard what she said. "I haven't been able to feel since you left me. I just wanted to feel again..."

I put my hand on her shoulder, and she slowly turned to look at me. I pressed my thumb across her cheek lightly to wipe away her tear stained face and replied, "You know it's not that I don't want to... I do... believe me it's all I've been thinking about since I first saw you here. But it's dangerous, and you know that."

"Since when is an Amazon afraid of a little danger?" she asked, looking me in the eyes, still begging for me to take her.

"Since it might result in your death... in possibly our death. And if I had to choose between having you now, and waiting a couple more days to have you for the rest of my life, I choose the latter."

"I just don't want to feel empty anymore..." Eve whispered.

"If it's only my body, and not me, that can make you feel whole again, then you lied to me when you told me you loved me," I said, stepping back from her a little.

"That's not... no... Varia," Eve said, stepping towards me. "It's just that... I remember how I felt when I was with you, it was like every emotion in the world was bursting to get out of me. I felt like I was a part of you... I..." she stopped for a minute then finished. "Sexual pleasure is the only thing I ever knew my whole life, it's what defines who I am and how I feel."

"Sex doesn't define who you are," I said, looking at her confused, wondering how she could even think that.

"The first time you laid with me, it wasn't because of who I was, it was because of how my naked body made you feel."

"What?" I said in disbelief. "Is that what you think?"

"That's how it seemed. Regardless, sex was the only thing I ever could offer you, and you know that."

I shook my head at her and walked away from her, staring at the wall for a minute, my back still turned from her. "That wasn't the only thing you offered me, Livia."

I said her old name to try to bring her back to those days, or maybe because my mind was stuck in those days. I could feel her body tense up behind me from the sound of it, but she didn't freak out like I thought she would.

"Then what else did I offer you, Amazon?" she countered.

I turned to face her and replied, "Hope."

Eve scoffed and said, "Hope that what? That since you finally realized how weak I was when I was around you, how bad it was that I needed you, that maybe you wouldn't die in Rome like you thought?"

"You're not weak, Eve."

"Ha!" she exclaimed loudly, "I would have given you the world if only you asked for it, I would have worshiped every inch of your skin all the time if only you let me! I had so many feelings for you I didn't know what to do, or how to handle them, or what to say! I could feel myself burning for you every second of every day and I could never control it! Explain to me how that wasn't weak!"

"Why don't you have Eli explain it to you," I suggested. She was silent for a moment, and I continued, "You understand the power of Eli's selfless love, but you don't understand the power of your own."

I must have touched something, because she didn't have a retort. Instead she slowly sat on my cot, and put her head in her hands. "Another reason why I don't understand why I'm his Messenger."

I sighed a little, and crossed the room to sit next to her on the cot. Putting my hand on her thigh I said, "You will one day, I'm sure of that. But until then, stop stressing about being perfect on this new path of yours. It's human to make mistakes, and to learn from them. Doing it at the natural pace it's supposed to progress, will benefit you more than you trying to be the perfect peacemaker that's filled with love all at once."

Eve nodded slightly, and I put my arm around her. "I do love you Eve, no matter how much you try to fight it because you don't think you deserve it."

"I guess I haven't changed that much, have I?" Eve asked, looking up at me.

"You've changed so much more than you know, and I think it's amazing."

**TBC...**


	12. The Best Decision at the Worst Time

**CHAPTER TWELVE - THE BEST DECISION AT THE WORST TIME**

It had been four days since that conversation with Eve. We both played our parts well, and rumors were circling around the Amazon village that me and Eve were about the be the next new couple like wildfire. Eve and I flirted constantly, something we both grew to enjoy outside of just trying to keep up appearances. And while it was getting increasingly difficult to keep our hands off of each other, we tended to have spontaneous hot and heavy make out sessions anywhere we could hide. We got away with all of them so far, until today.

Eve had me propped up on the ice box, where we stored all of our meat in the food preparation hut. Our lips seemed to be permanently attached to each other, our tongue constantly fighting for dominance. My legs were wrapped around her waist, and her hands had started to roam under my shirt after going at it for at least twenty minutes. Both of our breathing was labored, and we were moaning in between kisses.

I gasped loudly as Eve cupped my breast, and she ripped her lips away from my own to bite my neck. Every part of my body was screaming to take her, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to control myself any longer. She bit me again and I slammed my head against the wall behind me and moaned loudly, "Oh Gods, Eve!" I reached up my hand to try to find something above my head to just hang on to so I could control myself, but my hand grasped in vain at the empty air.

"Mark me!" I yelled, too caught up in the moment to even realize that someone could be around to hear us.

She licked up my neck to my ear and asked heavily, "Are you sure?"

"Yes..." I moaned out as she squeezed my breast and flicked her thumb over my nipple. "Please, I want to be yours.... now."

Eve bit my neck again, this time harder, and sucked on my flesh to produce a mark that would claim me as hers. I had my eyes closed tightly shut, and I was moaning like she was pleasuring me and not just biting my neck. But it seemed like anything we did recently seemed like lying together, even if we didn't. My nails started to dig into her shoulder as I felt my orgasm start to already build, just from the passion of it all.

When Eve came up from my neck, she said heavily against my lips, "I can't wait anymore Varia... I need to touch you.... please..."

I was already so close that my sexual needs overpowered my good sense. I grabbed her hand and put it under my skirt, making her cup me. I could feel my wetness seep between her fingers, and we both moaned. "I'm already so close..." I admitted heavily.

Eve pressed down on my clit, and I screamed out in pleasure, throwing my head back against the wall again. Eve grabbed my hair with my free hand and forced my head up so my lips could meet hers, in an effort to quiet me. I devoured her hungrily. Eve rubbed my clit a little firmer... a little harder... and my breathing was so heavy and so quick and filled with so many sounds I've never heard myself make that proved that I had lost all control and completely surrendered to my burning desire for her.

"Tell me how bad you want me," Eve whispered heavily against my lips as she sped up the pace on my clip.

I moaned and bit my lip hard, trying to keep myself from releasing right then. I had never heard Eve talk like this to me, but hell we had never lain together like this before together. It was always in a bed, and it was passionate, but this was... this was raw, animalistic, spontaneous...

I kissed her once as I breathed heavily onto her lips and replied, "I want to touch you so bad I... I think I'll die if I can't.... I want you to take every part of me because my body belongs to you... I'll do anything you want me to... Eve please..." I moaned loudly again as she rubbed it faster, "I need you to take what's yours... break me... please... I need it to be you..."

Eve looked up into my eyes and hers were full of question as she breathed out in disbelief, "You mean you still haven't...?"

"No," I gasped out, and took her hand off my clit to place her fingers outside of my opening. "I've always wanted it to be you... I needed it to be you... but I couldn't let you take me back then... because I never would have left you if you did..."

Eve's hand froze where it was and she whispered, "Varia I..."

"Please!" I cried out in desperation, looking her in the eyes. "I love you! Whether your Livia or Eve, I love you! You have to be the one to take me, otherwise I'll never be taken, because I decided years ago that it was going to be you!" Both of us were breathing heavily, and looking at each other as if we could see into each other. "You've marked my skin as yours, mark my womanhood....." There was more silence, and my hand that was on hers guided her into me slowly. "Please Eve... it's you... it's always been you...."

Eve bit her bottom lip, and her face flashed with so many emotions. I knew she thought I would never give her that part of me, but I've been saving it for years to do just that. Finally Eve leaned in and whispered in my ear, "Bite my shoulder, this will hurt at first."

A tear rolled down my cheek that I didn't even know had fallen, and I wrapped my arms around her, and bit down on her shoulder. Eve slid her fingers into me slowly, and I closed my eyes tightly and bit down on her harder to keep from screaming as I could feel my hymen ripping. My nails dug into her back and my muffled cry escaped as she finally broke through. I could feel myself bleeding, but I didn't care, and neither did Eve. I didn't care about anything anymore. Gaining my womanhood on top of an ice box was far from the way I planned it, but I just knew it had to be now, and so did she.

She started to slide in an out of me slowly, and I took my mouth off of her shoulder and rested my forehead against hers, our lips just a breath away from each other as I started to moan from the feeling. My eyes were closed, but I still felt like I could see her. She kissed me, but it wasn't like the passionate need that we had been drowning each other in since we've been together. It was gentle, and it was tentative, and it was something I never knew Eve had in her to do.

It was consummation.

She was still moving in and out of my slowly, and my breathing got a little heavier against her lips and I whispered her name, "Eve...."

"I can't believe you let me do that..." she whispered back, emotion so heavy in her voice I didn't have to have my eyes open to know that she was crying. "I've thought about doing that for years, but I never thought it was possible..."

I started to rock my hips in time with the movement of her hand and I whispered back against her lips, "It's always been you, Eve... Even if we never saw each other again, I would have rather died without ever reaching womanhood than have it be with anyone else but you..."

She kissed me again, and little harder this time, a little more needing as the emotion built up inside us both. When we broke apart she said breathlessly, "I've been in love with you ever since that day you gave me that bath..."

I opened my eyes to look into hers and replied, "I think I've been in love with you my whole life."

We kissed again, and the passion, the heat, the need, the love, the desire consumed us both whole. I lifted my leg over her shoulder, to give her more room to go deeper, and she did. I moaned loudly and rocked against her harder as my tongue claimed her mouth. As my nails dug harder into her skin, she pleasured me harder and faster, until I was at the point of screaming obscenities I've never spoken in my life, her name, and how much I love her all mixed into one.

"Oh my Gods Eve please! Make me yours!" I screamed, needing her to release me more than anything I've ever needed in the world.

She curved her fingers inside me, and hit a spot that made my head spin. It was a feeling I didn't even know existed, and I screamed her name as loud as I could before I released, and with it releasing a flow of my essence that squirted onto her stomach that I didn't even know was humanly possible.

I might have passed out, I really wasn't sure. All I knew was that when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was her, and that was the only thing that mattered.

Both of us were breathing heavily, I was drenched in sweat and her stomach was in a mixture of my essence and blood. It was one of those moments where words can't be spoken, cause they wouldn't even be able to begin to describe how we were feeling, or the intensity of that experience.

"Well," said a voice from behind us, and both of our hearts stopped in fear as we turned to look who was behind us.

"That was definitely the most interesting consummation of a relationship and gaining of womanhood I think I have ever witnessed," Genia said as she stood in the doorway, looking at the two of us. "Very informative as well. I knew you looked familiar, I just couldn't place it."

Neither of us spoke, we just grabbed each other's hands and held them tightly.

"How dare you come back here, Livia," Genia said, anger crossing her face as she advanced towards us. "You destroyed our tribe, killed our sisters, enslaved us... enslaved ME! What makes you think you have any right to step on our lands?"

Eve was about to speak, but Genia turned to me, and went on. "And you... you disgusting slut! You laid with the enemy and then dare come back here like you're still one of us?!"

I couldn't speak, my throat was dry and I wasn't even sure if I had a valid reason for my actions.

Genia mockingly laughed, "I hope you two didn't think your love was timeless... because time has just run out."

**TBC....**


	13. Truth Revealed

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN - TRUTH REVEALED**

Eve and I were thrown at Marga's feet as she sat on her throne. Our hands were bound behind our back, and there was ten Amazons surrounding us with spears aimed at us, ready to kill us if we tried anything. The commotion alerted the whole village, and everyone gathered around to see what was going on.

I sat up and saw Xena push through the crowd to me and her daughter. Me and Eve instinctively drew closer to each other, and Xena screamed, "What is going on, set them free!"

Queen Gabrielle followed Xena, but they were both stopped by more Amazons. Xena turned to Marga and demanded, "What is the meaning of this?!"

I couldn't bring myself to look at Marga, because I knew how much I had shamed her. I hid my face in Eves shoulder, and could hear Marga say, "I'd like to know myself. Who is responsible for this?"

Genia stepped forward and bowed, "My Queen, I witnessed the consummation of these two, and some interesting things were said during it."

"They had better be real interesting to have warranted this," Marga said dangerously. "Go on."

"The woman calling herself Eve, her name isn't Eve at all. That's Livia, the Bitch of Rome."

An uproar went through the crowd, and I could hear cries of "I knew it!" and "How could Varia do that?!"

"SILENCE!" Marga commanded, while Xena yelled, "Her birth name IS Eve!"

I hid farther in Eve's shoulder because I knew what was coming next. Eve whispered in my ear, "It'll be okay, I promise you everything is going to be okay." I didn't say anything, though I knew she didn't know that. How could she? We were both about to die.

"And Varia knew this before consummating with her?" Marga asked Genia, but I could feel her eyes on me. Tears spilled from my eyes, and I refused to look at her.

"Not only did she know it was Livia, but while she was away being 'horribly mistreated' as a slave, they were lying together!" Genia said in an angry outburst.

"Varia," Marga said. I still couldn't look at her. "Varia, as your Queen I demand you look at me when I address you!"

I rose my head from Eve's shoulder and looked at my Queen, my former friend. "Is what Genia says true?"

I choked back a sob, and Marga demanded, "Answer me!" And I nodded, before burying my head in Eve's shoulder again.

"Very well, take the prisoners to a cell, we'll hold a trial to decide their fate," Marga said, and before I knew it I was being grabbed and dragged to a cell on the far side of the village.

****

The only thing good about this situation was that since all the other cells held prisoners from the last battle, they only had one cell available, so me and Eve were locked in it together. It was a long time before either of us spoke, all I did for hours was just cry, and she held me and stared at the wall seemingly expressionless.

Once people were allowed to see us, the first to come was Xena. She stood outside the bars, and looked at Eve, who had reverted back to a woman that showed no emotion nor weakness.

"Eve..."

Eve looked at her, but didn't say anything.

"Eve, sweetie, why did you two do that? You should have consummated in one of your huts, you would have been less likely to have been overheard."

Eve scoffed, and shook her head in disbelief. "We shouldn't have to schedule our consummation around when we can get privacy. Things... things just happen sometimes. Sometimes feelings are just so great that you just..." She stopped herself, because she was starting to feel emotion, and I knew she didn't want to so she could protect herself.

"You couldn't have waited?"

"NO MOTHER!" Eve screamed, suddenly blowing up. "You wouldn't understand, no one would! No one was there years ago! I desired Varia for two years before she ever let me have her, and even then she wouldn't let me have her womanhood, and even though I was a murderous commander of Roman troops I loved her more than anything in the world, and I would have given anything to have been able to have her like that! And then things just... happened today, and she let me have it, Mother! She gave me the one thing I wanted more than anything in the world... her! So excuse me if I didn't wait to take it!"

There was silence for a long time, Xena wasn't sure how to react to that. I looked up at her and said, "It's my fault, I decided a long time ago that Eve was going to be the one to have me, and in that moment I knew she had to do it now, that I needed to be hers now. I told her to do it. It doesn't matter where we did it, if it was the most romantic place in the world or on top of that freaking icebox, all that mattered to me was that it was her."

Xena nodded, then looked back at her daughter, then to me again. "If this trial goes badly, I'm getting you both out the old fashioned way."

Neither of us argued, we both knew if the trial went badly then there was nothing left for us here, and we both weren't going to die if we could help it.

Xena left, and Marga entered directly after. My eyes dropped to the floor automatically, and I instinctively stepped behind Eve.

"Varia."

Marga's voice was softer than I expected, and I looked up. "Come here, Varia."

I looked at Eve, and she squeezed my hand to tell me to go. My feet carried me over to the bars, where my Queen, my friend, and the only motherly figure I've ever had stood in front of me.

Marga sighed and looked from me to Eve. "Varia... please explain this to me, because I want to be able to understand, I really do."

I was quiet for a moment, and then tried my best to explain. "I was Livia's slave for two years before anything happened. I watched her be cold blooded and ruthless to all those around her, except me. When we were alone, she was different. She was empty, she was sad, she was living a life and not living in it. I knew it wasn't her, that it was what somebody made her that made her do those things." I paused, and looked over at Eve, who was staring at the wall, trying to block out what I'm telling Marga.

"Livia used to ask me all the time if I hated her. And for a long time, I could answer yes without a moments hesitation. Then it changed, I would tell her I hated who she pretended to be. I knew she wanted me for a very long time, but she never ordered me to lay with her, or do anything like that. She ordered all the others, but not me. She would make requests to me, and accept when I turned them down. And then one night..."

My eyes flashed to Eve again and I said, remembering, "She asked me to sleep with her that night. She did not have her sleeping garments on, and seeing her like that... did things to me, and I hated myself for it. She knew it too, and understood the way I felt and why. But she told me she needed me, and I knew she did. I could feel the truth. And I looked in her eyes, and I finally saw who she really was. So yes, I did lie with her that night, and I'm be lying if I said it wasn't the most amazing experience of my life outside of earlier today."

Marga looked between the two of us and then back at me, "So if you had everything you wanted in her, why did you leave? Why did you come back to us?"

"I didn't escape, I could never do that in that palace, I'd be killed before I even saw the light of day. But I was about to be killed because a jealous slave made up a rumor that I was trying to assassinate Livia, and right before it happened... she saved me. She was the one that told me to go back, to go live my life, to be something more than just a slave."

Marga nodded, trying to understand, "And then she showed up here years later."

I leaned against the bars and said, "I never realized how in love with her I was until I left. And it killed me everyday to be without her. And it killed me every day because I felt guilty feeling that way when she committed all these horrible crimes against our sisters. But I can't help how I feel." I paused, "I didn't know she was going to come here, I didn't know she had changed her ways and found her mother and became a messenger of peace, but it'd be a lie if I told you that I never thought she was capable of it. Eve didn't know this was my tribe, because we had moved our lands since the raid. Neither of us expected this. But I'm so in love with her, Marga. I gave her my womanhood today, something I've been wanting to do for years. And I'm sorry because that means I betrayed you and all of my sisters. But I can't just hide my feelings away in a little box, when I know I'm meant to be with her for the rest of my life, no matter how short it ends up being."

Marga nodded, understanding what I was saying. There was a moments silence before she finally said, "Your trial will be in the morning, we'll see how this ends then."

I watched her go, my heart hurting in my chest. Eve came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist and asked quietly, "Do you regret loving me yet?"

I turned my head to look at her and replied, "I know I should, but I don't, and don't think I ever will."

**TBC....**


	14. An Unexpected Outcome

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN - AN UNEXPECTED OUTCOME**

We were both tied to a post that centered the hut where the trial would be held. We were on either side, and couldn't see each other. Our hands were bound with the same rope though, and we intertwined our fingers as we awaited our fate. While the member's of the council piled in, Xena stood on the side, her arms crossed and looking intimidating. When Queen Marga finally sat down on her seat, the rest of the council members sat as well, following suit.

"Varia, you are charged with the betrayal of your tribe by consorting with the enemy, how do you plead?" Marga asked, addressing me.

I looked up at her, hating the way she stated the question, however knowing it was the truth. "Guilty."

"Livia of Rome, also known as Eve, you are charged with murder and slavery of our Amazon sisters, how do you plead?"

Eve squeezed my hand she was holding and said, "Guilty."

There was slight murmurs that flew through the hut, but Marga held up her hand to silence them, "Then your guilt is not in question, and all that is required is to decide your fate."

"Wait," Gabrielle said, standing.

Marga looked over at her and nodded at her to continue. "I think the council should hear why they did it."

Marga nodded, "Very well."

Gabrielle walked over to me, and requested, "Varia, will you please tell all of us why you laid with an enemy of your tribe?"

I took a deep breath, and looked over at Marga, before addressing the rest of the council. I explained to them the same thing I did to Marga last night, and how guilty I felt about my feelings for Eve for a long time, but how I knew that I couldn't help how I felt, nor ignore it.

Gabrielle then addressed Eve, "Eve, why did you return to the tribe that you committed crimes against years ago?"

Eve looked at her, "Because you and Mother wanted to come. I didn't know it was the same tribe, I didn't know Varia would be here, and I couldn't leave once I found that she was. I had to abandon her before, I couldn't do that again."

There was a moment's silence before one of the other council members asked, "Why did you fight by our side during the battle you found us in when you came?"

Eve looked at the woman who spoke the question and answered, "Because you needed help."

"Very well," Marga said. "It's time to decide their fate. Suggestions?"

"Death," Genia said, staring at me, and not at Marga.

"Banishment," said the council member who spoke up before, and Genia looked at her in disbelief.

"After Livia killed and enslaved our sisters, after Varia knowingly betrayed us?!"

"Genia, calm down," Marga said, eyeing her.

"Eve clearly isn't the same person Livia was anymore, and as for Varia, she was in love, and she couldn't help who she fell for," the woman explained.

"I move to dismiss the charges," another council member, a woman named Ymiria said, "Based on the grounds just described."

"What?!" Genia burst out.

"GENIA!" Marga demanded, rasing her voice, "Calm down or you will be removed!"

"Varia is our second in command, and the best fighter we have outside of Queen Marga," Ymiria explained. "Without her, we could all be lost. As for Eve, even if we banish her, Varia will just go with her."

"What is wrong with you people?!" Genia screamed, her anger bubbling to the surface, "Livia is a little whore that manipulated and corrupted Varia into thinking she was in love! She was never meant to be with that bitch, she was meant to be with someone of her own kind!"

Instead of ordering her to calm down again, or ordering someone to remove her, Marga just looked at her and asked, "Like who? You?"

Genia was struck silent, and I looked over at her in surprise. Marga waited for a response, but when she got none she said, "Genia's move for death will be dismissed due to her vote based on personal reasons, and not for the good of the tribe. She–"

But Marga was interrupted when anger flooded over Genia's face, and she took out the dagger in her boot, and threw it strait at Eve. I screamed as I tried to remove my hands from their binds, but I knew even if I could it would be too late. But right before it hit Eve, it was snatched out of the air by Xena.

All hell broke loose in the hut, as Genia screamed in rage and started to advance on Eve, but was held back by four other Amazons.

"Enough!" Marga screamed. "Remove Genia from the hut and put her in a holding cell! We will deal with her later for trying to take vengeance in her own hands."

"Does it make you feel powerful to spread your legs for a murderer, Varia?!" Genia screamed at me as she was being taken outside. "I hope she fucks you like the disgusting slut you are! I hope you feel the blood on her hands everytime she uses them to pleasure you!"

I just stared in shock as Genia was removed from the hut. I didn't know what to think, or even say. Genia had always been my friend, and I had no idea she was even interested in me that way. It hurt, to hear her talk to me that way, to hear what she really thought of me.

Marga clapped her hands to resume order, and everyone sat again. "All in favor to dismiss all charges against Eve and Varia, with the agreement that Eve will do everything in her power to make amends for what she did to our tribe, please stand, and be counted."

I watched as all of the council members stood in disbelief. If it wasn't for Genia's outburst and attempt on Eve's life, I don't think none of them would have agreed to comply besides Ymiria, who originally suggested it. Amazon law did include dismissal of charges, but it was hardly ever used.

"The council has spoken with one voice," Marga said, "All charges are dismissed against Varia and Eve." She turned to look at both of us, "But if anything like this happens again, or any more secrets like this are revealed, we will not be so tolerant."

I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding as someone unbound our ties, and we were freed. I wrapped my arms around Eve, and just held her. I couldn't believe this was happening. I looked up at Marga and gave her a small smile in thanks, and she nodded her head at me in acknowledgment.

****

"You're staying, aren't you?" Xena asked Eve, after she told us that her and Gabrielle would be moving on at next light.

Eve nodded, and placed a hand on my leg as she sat next to me on my cot... on our cot in our hut. "Part of the agreement of the dismissal was that I had to make amends with the tribe. I can't do that if I'm not here."

Xena nodded, understanding, and replied. "We'll be back to visit."

Eve smiled, "I know."

Xena looked at me, "Take care of her."

I put my hand over the one Eve had on my leg and held it, "I will."

When Xena left, we laid together on the cot in silence, my head resting on her breast. Eve stroked my hair, and we both just reveled in the unexpected events of the day.

When Eve spoke, it was quiet, "Do you love me?"

It was a variation of the question she always used to ask me, and I smiled as I looked up at her and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Yes," I answered, truthfully.

**THE END.**


End file.
